MENU

This widespread hoax has been going around since 1996, and is common now once
again in the fall of 1997. The hoax is a warning about a dangerous e-mail message titled 'Penpal greetings'. No such danger exists.

This hoax is very similar to Good Times. Here's an example of the hoax warning:

If anyone receives mail entitled: PENPAL GREETINGS! please delete it
WITHOUT reading it.
   This is a warning for all internet users - there is a dangerous
   virus propogating across the internet through an e-mail message
   entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!".  DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY MESSAGE
   ENTITLED "PENPAL GREETINGS!" This message appears to be a
   friendly letter asking you if you are interested in a penpal, but
   by the time you read this letter, it is too late.  The "trojan
   horse" virus will have already infected the boot sector of your
   hard drive, destroying all of the data present.  It is a
   self-replicating virus, and once the message is read, it will
   AUTOMATICALLY forward itself to anyone who's e-mail address is
   present in YOUR mailbox!
   This virus will DESTROY your hard drive, and holds the potential
   to DESTROY the hard drive of anyone whose mail is in your inbox,
   and who's mail is in their inbox, and so on.  If this virus
   remains unchecked, it has the potntial to do a great deal of
   DAMAGE to computer networks worldwide!!!!
   Please, delete the message entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!" as soon
   as you see it! And pass this message along to all of your friends
   and relatives, and the other readers of the newsgroups and
   mailing lists which you are on, so that they are not hurt by this
   dangerous virus!!!!

Please ignore this hoax warning and do not pass it on.

*********************************

List of known hoaxes:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z 

 

Welcome to my hoax section if you encounter a message about a virus please send to [email protected] or call me on ICQ#22015420 I do not spread hoaxes! these pages are simply to inform other users that they are hoaxes. Please to not spread hoaxes. Hoax warnings are typically scare alerts started by malicious people - and passed on by innocent users who think they are helping the community by spreading the warning. Do not forward hoax messages. There have been cases where e-mail systems have collapsed after dozens of users forwarded a false alert to everybody in the company. Corporate users can get rid of the hoax problem by simply setting a strict company guideline: End users must not forward virus alarms. Ever. If such message is received, end users could forward it to the IT department but not to anyone else.